Chapter 2 Summary and Analysis

James's family checks him into a rehabilitation clinic, and James's first stop is the medical wing. On the way, he learns some of the rules of the clinic: any substance abuse or any interaction beyond a polite greeting with any patient of the opposite sex will result in termination of treatment. At the medical wing, James tells a nurse that he abuses alcohol daily, as much as he can, from when he wakes up to the point that he passes out. He also tells her that he abuses all forms of cocaine, but most recently crack cocaine, daily and as much as he can, as well as sporadic abuse of pills, mushrooms, acid, methamphetamines, PCP, and glue.

James falls asleep and when he wakes up he has nightmarish hallucinations of bugs crawling in the corners of his room and on his...